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New to skiing, top 5 tips/things to learn for a noob? any guides???

Ogg

Skiing the powder
Skier
Joined
Jun 3, 2017
Posts
3,484
Location
Long Island, NY
Even when I have a frustrating run or one that scares the crap out of me, I always find myself making a beeline to the lift to go back up for more. As much as I try to dig for excuses to quit, I am just kidding myself because I still have to force myself to stop for lunch or just a break wherever I’m skiing. I’m hooked but throwing a tantrum about what I see as slow progress.
You're hooked now. Keep working on it. Try not to over do it. Take breaks. Don't let yourself get dehydrated. You will get better.
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
6,697
Location
New England
....I’m hooked but throwing a tantrum about what I see as slow progress.
I feel your pain. For progress to be fast, you need:

1. Perfectly-fit boots
2. Perfect coaching from a trusted professional on a regular basis
3. Perfect equipment for the tasks you need to work on, on the conditions du jour
4. Perfect terrain for your current level of learning, including little to no slope traffic
5. An understanding of how motor learning proceeds, and a willingness to build skills in synch with that knowledge
6. Finances, time, and family support that enable you to take advantage of those things on a regular basis

Otherwise, you learn at the pace of most adult learners. Painfully slow. Embarrassingly slow. Self-doubtingly slow. Enragingly slow.
 

jwtravel

JWTravel (man)
Skier
Joined
Aug 27, 2020
Posts
77
Location
Indiana
I feel your pain. For progress to be fast, you need:

1. Perfectly-fit boots
2. Perfect coaching from a trusted professional on a regular basis
3. Perfect equipment for the tasks you need to work on, on the conditions du jour
4. Perfect terrain for your current level of learning, including little to no slope traffic
5. An understanding of how motor learning proceeds, and a willingness to build skills in synch with that knowledge
6. Finances, time, and family support that enable you to take advantage of those things on a regular basis

Otherwise, you learn at the pace of most adult learners. Painfully slow. Embarrassingly slow. Self-doubtingly slow. Enragingly slow.
7. Overriding 40 years of well ingrained self-preservation motor skill reactions that fight against me trying to balance while in motion.

point taken, I’m learning in the real world
 

jwtravel

JWTravel (man)
Skier
Joined
Aug 27, 2020
Posts
77
Location
Indiana
I feel your pain. For progress to be fast, you need:

1. Perfectly-fit boots
2. Perfect coaching from a trusted professional on a regular basis
3. Perfect equipment for the tasks you need to work on, on the conditions du jour
4. Perfect terrain for your current level of learning, including little to no slope traffic
5. An understanding of how motor learning proceeds, and a willingness to build skills in synch with that knowledge
6. Finances, time, and family support that enable you to take advantage of those things on a regular basis

Otherwise, you learn at the pace of most adult learners. Painfully slow. Embarrassingly slow. Self-doubtingly slow. Enragingly slow.
In a Ralph Wiggum voice, “I’m in the COGNITIVE phase of motor skill acquisition.”
 

Chris V.

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Mar 25, 2016
Posts
1,366
Location
Truckee
All right, I'll bite:

5. Move with the skis. Always!

4. Tip, tip, tip the feet.

3. Initiate movements from the feet, BUT...anything you do with your feet requires a complementary upper body movement. Newton said for every action, there is a equal and opposite reaction. Or should be.

2. Be dynamic with fore-aft movement. Do that one thing well, and you'll already be ahead of 95% of the skiers on the mountain.

1. Don't practice intermediate movements. Practice expert movements--but on the GENTLEST slopes to start. Practice, practice, practice. Go from there!

Focus on these points outside of or preferably in conjunction with lessons. Now go out and have a blast!
 

jwtravel

JWTravel (man)
Skier
Joined
Aug 27, 2020
Posts
77
Location
Indiana
Good suggestions so far...tips to get the most out of your lessons- http://www.skischoolpros.com/how-to-maximize-your-ski-snowboard-lessons/

1 legged balancing exercises and ice skating are good ways to wake up ski muscles pre-trip.
I’m using ice skating to accelerate my skiing learning curve. Went from death grip of the wall on New Year’s Eve to being able to just step on the ice and go. 35 trips to the ice rink in 2021. Besides waking up the balance muscles, it also satisfied that itch to be on snow or ice during the bleak summer months.
 

jt10000

步步高升
Skier
Joined
Apr 21, 2019
Posts
1,128
Location
New York City
2. Be dynamic with fore-aft movement. Do that one thing well, and you'll already be ahead of 95% of the skiers on the mountain.

1. Don't practice intermediate movements. Practice expert movements--but on the GENTLEST slopes to start. Practice, practice, practice. Go from there!
Good stuff!
 

James

Out There
Instructor
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,438
35 trips to the ice rink in 2021. Besides waking up the balance muscles, it also satisfied that itch to be on snow or ice during the bleak summer months.
That’s impressive. Rollerblading is really good too. The surface isn’t flat.
 

DanoT

RVer-Skier
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
4,788
Location
Sun Peaks B.C. in winter, Victoria B.C. in summer
With new boots start out with ultra thin socks and as the liner compresses, instead of tightening the buckles, try wearing a thin sock.
 

BLiP

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Feb 12, 2020
Posts
907
Location
New York
1) Take lessons from a certified instructor
2) Stop skiing before you get tired
3) Take lessons
4) Don't worry about buying expensive equipment right away. Renting is okay for the first year (just make sure your boot fits snug)
5) Don’t rely on advice from the internet (i.e., TAKE LESSONS)
 

jwtravel

JWTravel (man)
Skier
Joined
Aug 27, 2020
Posts
77
Location
Indiana
I feel your pain. For progress to be fast, you need:

1. Perfectly-fit boots
2. Perfect coaching from a trusted professional on a regular basis
3. Perfect equipment for the tasks you need to work on, on the conditions du jour
4. Perfect terrain for your current level of learning, including little to no slope traffic
5. An understanding of how motor learning proceeds, and a willingness to build skills in synch with that knowledge
6. Finances, time, and family support that enable you to take advantage of those things on a regular basis

Otherwise, you learn at the pace of most adult learners. Painfully slow. Embarrassingly slow. Self-doubtingly slow. Enragingly slow.
...but the view is fantastic! Your point is well taken.
 

ThomasD

Getting off the lift
Skier
Joined
Dec 24, 2021
Posts
281
Location
Johnson City, TN
Tons of great stuff here. I'll give you my $0.02

Do not fight the fall.

Fighting to stay upright is when many injuries occur. Especially so for the beginner. Yes your bindings are supposed to release and save you, but do not depend on them. When you know you are not going to stay upright it is often better just to relax the body and lower your bottom to one side OR the other, whichever seems closer to the Earth (usually the uphill side.) DO NOT sit directly back on the tails. As with all aspects of skiing it is better to be in control and a controlled fall is always a safer fall. The more controlled the fall the less danger it presents and the quicker/easier it is to recover and get back up and skiing again.

It's when you fight the fall that bad things happen. Far too often you see a beginner, half fallen, skis pointing in opposing directions, holding themselves up by their arms, and fighting to untwist the skis. This is not a good situation. The combination of body weight and edged skis that are locked into the snow can place tremendous forces on the lower joints. Trying to stand up in order to release those edges is only going to put more force on them, further threatening those joints.

In that situation the immediate goal is to get the downforce off the skis and the best way to do that is get your upper body down on the snow, laying your torso flat if possible. Once you have released the skis/your legs from the weight of your upper body then you will find it all much easier to manipulate them and go about the business of untangling the skis.

I have long thought that we do beginners a great disservice by not spending more time teaching them how to fall and how to recover even though it is an inevitable part of the learning process. People tell me its' because they think it's discouraging but I disagree. I've been skiing almost thirty years and I still fall, because even now I'm still learning and still trying.
 
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newboots

Learning to carve!
Skier
Joined
Dec 9, 2016
Posts
1,367
Location
Catskills
^Yes! Teach how to fall and how to get up! I asked for this in an early lesson and was told no, it was not going to be taught.
 

skiki

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Posts
653
Location
Massachusetts
Another boot tip. Never, Absolutely Never, leave your boots in the vehicle overnight!!
I did this once. But on purpose. I was skiing at Sunday River and knew I had to hit the road early-ish to pick the kid up from college in Portland the next day. I figured it was the best way to remove the temptation to get a few runs in before getting on the road.
 

DanoT

RVer-Skier
Skier
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Nov 12, 2015
Posts
4,788
Location
Sun Peaks B.C. in winter, Victoria B.C. in summer
Yeah sometimes, things get out of control and the up coming terrain is looking wicked (not in a nice way) and you just have to make the decision to "buy the farm".
 

James

Out There
Instructor
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,438
^Yes! Teach how to fall and how to get up! I asked for this in an early lesson and was told no, it was not going to be taught.
Yeah I used to do that, no way now. This is one advantage to having poles for adults though -removing a ski.

But here’s the thing- practice the emergency position. Grab your knees, get low. Try to turn uphill. If that fails, just fall to the side. Do not sit down backward! You will accelerate and increase the chances of getting hurt.
(This is counter to natural tendency to throw the hands up in the air and be tall. Like when walking and slipping on ice)

You should also practice some basic backwards skiing to a stop in a V. It’s simply going to happen at some point, so having done it before reduces panic.

Also, practice getting from a facing up slope position , skis in V, to sideways. Also from facing down slope to sideways.
 
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Wilhelmson

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
May 2, 2017
Posts
4,328
For my first ski lesson at the local hill when I was 12 the 16 year old instructor took about half the 90? minute lesson showing us how to stand up on skis from being on the snow (ice) It paid off instantly because the rickety j bar and icy bunny hill were treacherous. I didn’t learn to ski that day but I still get up from a fall with skis perpendicular to the slope and both poles pushing against the uphill side.
 

Kneale Brownson

Making fresh tracks forever on the other side
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
1,863
For my first ski lesson at the local hill when I was 12 the 16 year old instructor took about half the 90? minute lesson showing us how to stand up on skis from being on the snow (ice) It paid off instantly because the rickety j bar and icy bunny hill were treacherous. I didn’t learn to ski that day but I still get up from a fall with skis perpendicular to the slope and both poles pushing against the uphill side.
Much easier on the skier to pop off the uphill ski once you have gotten into that perpendicular situation and get onto the free knee. The uphill ski is right there with the binding open for you to step back into. I'm a fat, old guy, so I know.
 

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